Chandigarh: The Punjab Congress on Friday declared its 4th list of 10 candidates for the upcoming state assembly elections 2017, replacing two of its earlier nominees with more winnable candidates.
As reported in an English vernacular the party faced an erosion of Hindu and Majhabi Sikh votes in 2012, the Congress is trying to strike a balance by fielding more Majhabis this time. That’s a factor behind Geja Ram also being on the list. Geja’s candidature from Jagraon shows that the will of state Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh prevailed over that of Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, who was pushing for Malkit Singh Dakha from Jagraon.
With this, the party has announced a total of 108 candidates for election to the 117-member state Assembly. The remaining ticket would also be announced at the earliest, said Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh, while interacting with the media he claimed that the party’s committed to choose winnable candidates over other considerations and sticking to the one-family-one-ticket rule.
Ex Congress MLA Rajkumar Gupta has replaced Tejinder Bittu in Jalandhar North, while from Bhadaur (SC) constituency, Nirmal Singh Nimma has been replaced with Joginder Singh Panjgrain, who had contested 2012 assembly polls on Congress ticket from Jaitu (SC).
List of congress candidates.